To be clear the program’s first class of students began classes at the start of this term, so tonight’s event was more ceremonial than operational, but it was a great event. It was an honor to be there. The lecture was given by guest of honor Frans van Eemeren, and covered the history, recent trends in and future prospects of the pragma-dialectic school of argumentation theory. It was a lovely talk and Professor van Eemeren closed it with words of encouragement for the first class of Argumentation Studies Ph.D. students:

“Argumentation and language”

The CoRReA (Collectif Romand de Recherches sur l’Argumentation, http://www.collectifcorrea.wordpress.com) is pleased to issue the call for papers for the International Conference ARG-AGE 2015, to be held at the University of Lausanne in 2015 (9-11 September). The languages of the conference will be English and French.

April 11-13, 2014
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

The 15th Biennial Wake Forest University Argumentation Conference will feature keynote addresses by Hans Hansen, Ekaterina Haskins, and Catherine Palczewski, as well as a special workshop with Frans van Eemeren and a workshop for undergraduate students with Gordon Mitchell.

The Biennial Wake Forest Argumentation Conference began in November, 1983, with a one-day conference on the Wake Forest University campus. After again meeting on the Wake Forest campus in 1985, the Conference was convened in 1987 in the Wake Forest study abroad facility, Casa Artom, in Venice, Italy, with co-sponsorship from the International Society for the Study of Argumentation (ISSA). The conference has subsequently alternated between “the Venice Conference” and domestic sites.
The 15th Wake Forest University Argumentation Conference will take place concurrent with the 2014 Wake Debate Reunion in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The Institute will commence with five Seminars running from Monday to Friday, June 3-7, culminating in a plenary luncheon. After lunch on the 7th, twenty Workshops begin and will run to midday on Sunday, June 9th.

Registration for the 2013 RSA Summer Institute in Lawrence, KS is open! If you have been accepted into a Workshop or a Seminar (or if you are a session leader), it’s time to register. To do so, please visit http://www.continuinged.ku.edu/programs/rhetoric-society/. If you are a session leader or a graduate student, you will need a special code to receive the appropriate discounts. You should have received this code already. If you are not a session leader or a graduate student, you do not need a code to register. The Registration deadline is April 1, 2013.

Argumentation

Seminar leaders:

David Zarefsky, Northwestern University
Robert C. Rowland, University of Kansas
Jean Goodwin, Iowa State University
Jeanne Fahnestock, University of Maryland
Frans H. van Eemeren, University of Amsterdam

Argumentation is the study of how people justify their acts, beliefs, attitudes, and values, and influence the thought and actions of others, by providing good reasons for the claims they make. This subfield includes both descriptive study (what do people consider to be good reasons and what are they doing when they offer what they take to be justifications?) and normative investigation (under what circumstances should claims be considered justified?). It addressesboth argumentation in general and argumentation in specific contexts such as law, business,science, religion, and public affairs. (more…)